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Scotland: Scotland 'needs Indian muscle'

SCOTLAND will lose out unless it accepts India’s outsourcing muscle as an opportunity rather than a threat, the founder of a new offshore consultancy has warned.

Phil Britton, the former Scottish director of £40m Mumbai IT services group Mastek, said the exodus of work to India would continue and Scottish companies should look to capitalise on it rather than ignore it or try to beat it.

A report last month predicted “offshoring” work to cheaper destinations would cost Britain almost £6 billion over the next six years in unemployment benefits and retraining. But the cost of not outsourcing would be higher — £34 billion — due to a slowing of GDP growth.

Britton has set up Offshore Connections to capitalise on the growing demand in Scotland to outsource technology projects to cheaper locations.

He says companies can save up to 50% because India’s obsession with sticking to time and budget means “cheaper,